Outside of the breach zone where Team Percival fought, the DSB agent had a quick look at the Arctablet that held on its screen details of the zone.
His eyes went wide with shock when he realized this wasn't an E-Grade Zone. He looked over to Miss Heather, who was busy on her device, then walked over to one of the magi-engineers.
The agent gestured towards the screen and asked in a low tone, "Is there something wrong with these readings? This was supposed to be an E-Grade zone."
The magi-engineer looked at him with a puzzled expression, then said, "No sir. It's a C-grade."
He spoke in a much louder tone than Agent Jim, which made the DSB agent frantically motion with his fingers, asking him to tone it down.
Agent Jim looked towards Miss Heather, and she hadn't noticed anything off yet. Then he turned back towards the magi-engineer, who still looked puzzled.
"Is there a problem?" the magi-engineer asked.
"Uhm, no, no," Agent Jim replied, trying not to show that the error had come from him.
He had confused the details of the documents back at the office, and on that mistake, had informed Mr. Kieran that this zone was an E-grade zone.
The magi-engineer continued with his duties, and Jim turned towards Miss Heather, wondering if he should tell her or not, as mistakes like this could cost him his job.
———
Back inside the breach zone, the team had just finished clearing out the hordes of Bone Hounds.
"Thank you for having my back," Lucy said to Bettie, who had used her Air Bullets spell to fend off against the monsters that came for both she and Lucy.
The magi-engineer had nothing else to battle with except for a single bomb she was holding onto for the right moment.
Percival quickly turned towards Ethan at the back and spoke in the voice of a ferocious werewolf. "You good, man?"
Although it was only Percival looking out for him, Ethan found that embarrassing, being asked that so loudly.
However, he nodded, and Percival nodded back in acknowledgment before turning towards Wilson with a frown on his face.
"Let's move forward," Percival said, and with that, the team continued into the zone.
Ethan intentionally walked slowly as the team got around a corner. Then he whispered, "Come forth, Albedo."
A purple magic circle materialized on the ground by his side, and from it, the assassin demon came forth. "Hi again, summoner," she said in a teasing voice and with a sly grin.
[Bond Skill Activated]
Ethan activated the Bond skill while raising his right index finger over his mouth as if asking her to tone it down. Right then, he communicated to her via their mind connection.
"Go into Stealth, watch my back till we are done here, and only communicate through our shared thoughts."
That acted as a command that Albedo couldn't refute. It looked like her body started to fade away, but this was the effect of her Stealth skill.
It hid her presence away, so much so you couldn't even perceive her at all. Not by sound, not by footprints, and not even by sensing her mana.
This skill was what made her a formidable assassin in the year x2000.
As soon as that happened, Ethan turned away and quickly joined up with the others, while Albedo grumbled in her mind behind him, "I really hate you, summoner."
They came to a part of the cavern where right in front of them were a few Bone Hounds, which ordinarily were D-Grade threats.
But sitting above what looked like an egg core or so was the Shardbone Matron. It was a C-grade threat.
Bettie immediately looked worried seeing the Matron, but was very much thankful that she was doing this expedition with final years who were very much highly skilled.
Unlike the other Bone Hounds, this one was female, their birth mother, and her body was just made of bones like the others, but these bones were more crystalline in nature. They had a faint purple shimmer to them, with jagged crystal formations jutting out from her spine and limbs.
"I'm going for that one over there," Percival called out, pointing towards the Matron sitting atop the egg structure.
With another roar, the werewolf leaped towards it.
The Matron pounced away to a different corner, causing Percival to miss his mark. He repositioned himself after landing, before chasing after the Matron that had roared at him.
The others immediately got into action, dealing with the rest of the Bone Hounds that circled around. Hoffman was above ground level now, as he had gained bee wings behind his back.
This was a summoner's Borrow skill in play here, and while Hoffman watched from his somewhat safe corner, the Bee King shot flame stones at the monsters.
The Bone Hounds were no match for his commander-level summon, whose strength you could liken to a B-Grade monster.
Bettie continued firing at the monsters with her Air Bullets spell, covering for both herself and Lucy, who held tightly to her bomb, seeking out the right time to use it.
Wilson, however, took the opportunity with the commotion. This wave of Bone Hounds weren't as many as the first one, but more importantly, it seemed Percival was more distracted chasing out the Matron.
His sight tilted back towards Ethan, who looked distracted with releasing Fireball spells at the few that came after him.
"Hmm," the Heydrich muttered, noticing the weird coloration of Ethan's eyes. Was that a spell? Wilson wondered. But right in that moment, a Bone Hound pounced for Wilson.
While it was still mid-air, its head was instantly severed. Wilson's hand swing had moved so fast that the beast had died right there mid-air.
Wilson quickly turned towards Ethan. He saw another Bone Hound approaching the Stark, so he knew it was now or never. And in that instant, his form blurred forward towards Ethan.
But right before Wilson could make contact, he stopped instantly, leaping two steps backwards with narrowed eyes, as though he had just felt danger right in his path.
"Ho ho, the vampire knows?" Albedo said with a devious smirk on her face, while retracting her right hand that held a penknife she had nearly just cut Wilson with.
Ethan heard his summon speak into their shared thought. Then he turned his head towards Wilson with a smile on his face.
This was the exact reason he summoned Albedo for, to aid him against the vampire knowing he could do nothing against their speed.
"Good Job" Ethan said in his thoughts to his demon summon.
"I'll take the praise, summoner" she replied back.
Then he turned back towards the incoming beast and released another Fireball spell at it.
Wilson's eyes widened in shock as he watched Ethan's taunting smile. "He knew I was coming?" he muttered to himself.
But what threw Wilson off the most was the sudden kill intent he felt as he approached Ethan.
Vampiric senses were really keen on picking things like bloodlust and kill intent, and just now he had sensed it coming from Ethan's position. "Was that him or someone else?" Wilson wondered.
But the thought had not been there for long as his attention had quickly diverted towards the incoming Bone Hound.
The moment Wilson turned towards it with his red eyes, he stared at the beast right in its eyes, and the hound froze on the spot. He had just used Compulsion.
This was a special trait skill only available to the vampires of the Heydrich family, and by staring into the eyes of his target, he could enslave their minds and force them to do his bidding.
It required a certain proximity, and with that, Wilson had forced the beast to stay quiet. He walked over to the hound, and its head was instantly sliced off.
He turned again towards Ethan with a puzzled expression, and when he remembered that taunting smile, he gritted his teeth. "Tch."
————-
A/N :
Guys, good news. We got the contract for Ultimate OP System! 🎉
The real work begins now, so expect a regular flow of chapters moving forward!
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